Friday, June 30, 2017

I would love it if you would check out my auctions ending within the next 24 hours or so. I would love it even more if you would place a bid, especially on the various items that have no bids yet! If you do happen to win an auction (or more than one) from me and you leave a comment here, I'll be sure to throw in some extra cards when I ship out your item(s). Thanks for helping a guy out - after all, the goal of the eBay auctions is to help me raise money to pay for Allen & Ginter that is coming out in a few weeks!

You probably wouldn't expect an owl to ever deliver you a cat...and certainly not via the postal service. And yet, back in May of this year, that's exactly what Greg (aka Night Owl) did for me.

Alright, to clarify that cat was, more specifically, a Sphynx - and it was a card, not a live animal. In fact, the Sphynx card was the last "non-stupid short print" that I needed from the 2014 A&G Little Lions set.

I'll even ignore the slightly dinged corner while I put it in my binder. After all, it's still in good enough shape (plus I'm more of a dog person than a cat guy anyhow).

In addition to the Sphynx, Greg also sent along a smattering of Reds including some Opening Day Reds that were new to me. Of the three he sent my way, the easy choice for "best picture" goes to Billy Hamilton.

Unfortunately for Billy (and Reds fans), Billy can't seem to hit the ball or get on base with any sort of regularity which makes his speed almost meaningless in a game (although I suppose his speed does help him play good defense).

Thanks for the envelope of cards, Greg! And, as always, if anyone else would like to trade please check out my want list and make an offer.

Thursday, June 29, 2017

Back in the beginning of June, Julie (from A Cracked Bat) and I agreed to a simple swap. I was able to send her a few cards she wanted...and in return, I am now pleased to report that I am two cards closer on my quest to complete the 2007 Allen & Ginter Flags insert set.

Both of the mini cards are quite cool. I specifically like how each has imagery incorporated into the design that would only work for the given country. In fact, some day I'd love to see the Pyramids for myself in person...but until then, at least I have the Egypt card to serve as a proxy.

In addition to the two minis, Julie also threw in one more mini:

Chapman seems to be a kind of jerk these days (the whole "shooting at his girlfriend" thing really soured me on Chapman). However, this one has a shot at making it into my mini Frankenset (whenever I finally get the opportunity to start putting it together).

And finally, two Museum Collection cards:

I don't have the budget to ever bust high end stuff like this, so I'm happy to land a pair of nice Vottos for my collection!

Many thanks Julie! And, as always, if anyone else would like to trade - be sure to check out my want list and make an offer!

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

As you probably know, I recently completed my first group break of 2017. As part of the break, I promised to send everyone a small flat rate mailer full of cards from the teams in their slot (each slot had two teams in it). I used the medium flat rate mailers for the two people who claimed two slots (so those boxes were extra heavy)!

I had to split up my packing and mailings across multiple days, but for posterity here is what I mailed out (in terms of pounds).

Monday, June 19:
3 packages, total weight: 7 lbs 1.7 oz

Wednesday, June 21:
5 packages, total weight: 7 lbs 15.0 oz.

Thursday, June 22:
3 packages, total weight: 6 lbs 7.8 oz

TOTAL WEIGHT OF BASEBALL CARDS SENT OUT: 21 lbs 8.5 ozTotal USPS flat rate shipping charges: $91.55
I have to admit, I didn't expect my mail runs to be that heavy! Each package that I mailed had a wide range of cards - some had some cards from before I was born, most had plenty of cards from the 80s and 90s, and then various cards from the 2000s and on rounded out each box. I also tried to include some inserts/parallels where I could.

In addition to the group break cards and the bonus cards, I promised to include some extra "hits" since I pulled a Joey Votto relic for myself in the break (it's rare for a Reds' hit to show up)! Since everyone should have their cards in hand by now, here are the four bonus relics that I was able to include in various group break packages.

I also threw in a nice autograph for one lucky team (courtesy of a prize I won from Night Owl quite some time ago).

I hope everyone enjoyed the break! I hope to hold another group break this summer - so if you have ideas of what you'd like to see in a group break let me know ASAP!

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Every so often (i.e. whenever I feel like it), I will add a card to a "Trade Stack". Whenever the stack becomes appealing enough to someone, that person needs to comment on the post saying they'd like to claim the stack AND tell me which card they are sending off of my want list. That's all you have to do - trade me ONE card (or more, of course) card from my want list for the entire stack of cards that I'm offering. Each time, it will be first come, first serve...so act quickly (unless of course you are a gambler and hope to wait it out until there are 10+ cards in the stack that you want in exchange for a single 2004 UD Vintage card that I am looking for)!

The Trade Stack:

Last update: 6/27/17

Yesterday, I finally got around to posting my Trade Bait for 2017 Topps Archives (and I finally had time to update my want list with the set as well). If you'd like to see what all I have for trade, you can find the full list here. I need about half the base set for my own collection yet (which should make claiming the Trade Stack easier - shouldn't be too hard to find some cards for me now)! You can find my full want list here. And finally, before I get to today's addition to the Stack, I want to advertise my eBay auctions that are happening right now (here). Lots of good stuff there including one of the best pulls from a pack that I've ever had.With all of that out of the way, let's get to today's addition to the Trade Stack. I have a pair of 2017 Topps Archives base cards - a super nice looking Todd Frazier and a Seth Lugo rookie card. Perhaps you need one (or both) of them? You'll get both by claiming the Stack as well as the other 16 cards that have already been added to the pile!Remember, you get all of the cards in the Trade Stack in exchange for one (or more) cards off of my want list.2017 Topps Archives:208. Todd Frazier - White Sox267. Seth Lugo - Mets

If you want the stack, remember - all you need to do is offer up any one card from my want list.

Want the card(s) in the stack? Act fast - tell me which card you will send me off my want list in the comments below! You must leave a comment on the trade stack post in order to claim the card - no more claims via email! If no one claims this card within a reasonable amount of time (a few hours up to a few days, depending) - I'll add another card to the stack and the process will start again!

As usual, my baseball card collection was mostly neglected during the past spring semester (work always keeps me busy, especially this year since I had to plan a course trip to Europe in addition to my usual duties)! Because of work (and then the group break), I haven't had a chance to do any reorganizing of my collection since January...but luckily for me, that streak ends today!

It's time to take a look at 1985 - a year that I suppose some people consider vintage seeing as how it was over 30 years ago (boy that makes me feel old as a 1982 baby). I, for one, do not consider '85 vintage...for me, vintage is pre-1980...and because of that, cards from 1985 are going to have to earn my respect or else they are destined to end up in my various trade stacks.

Let's see how the year in cards stacks up for 1985.

First up, the main set from 1985: Topps.

The 1985 Topps set isn't my favorite design, but it's also not the worst design. I actually like the design of the front of the cards quite a bit - but the dark green card stock with red lettering was a poor choice for the card backs. No matter, this is the one set from 1985 that I already have completed - so it gets an easy "keep it" rating.

1985 Topps Traded:

The Topps Traded sets never appealed all that much to me, if I'm being honest. I guess the idea was novel at the time but it simply didn't ever inspire me. Luckily (?), I only own a single '95 Traded card (the Browning you see above) so this is an easy choice: skip it.

O-Pee-Chee:

When I was a kid, the O-Pee-Chee cards were sort of like finding a four leaf clover. You heard about them, you knew they existed, but man, finding one in the wild was pretty rare (and kind of cool). Unfortunately, my infatuation with O-Pee-Chee ended long before I gave up eating Lucky Charms for breakfast...so again, this is a "skip it."

Moving on to other brands, let's take a peek at 1985 Fleer first.

The '85 Fleer set isn't terrible,, but that's probably the best praise I can give the set. Based on my relatively small sample size, I would say that the majority of images in the set are boring posed shots...that's fine for one or two photos, but who wants binder page after binder page filled with boring photos like that? Certainly not me - and so, sorry Fleer but I'm skipping you too.

Finally, the only other set from 1985 that I have more than a handful of cards from: Donruss.

This one is easy to decide - black borders are almost always a deal breaker for me...put black borders are terribly cheap card stock and it is a no brainer. No thanks Donruss.

And so that does it for 1985. In the end, I'm only keeping the '85 Topps flagship set - but when you look at the rest of the baseball card offerings from 1985, I think that's the decision that most people would make.

Let's hope my next update to my Great Reorganization project occurs before December...otherwise I'll never get my collection under control!

The 2000 Pacific Vanguard set contained a mere 100 cards in its base set plus a fairly small number of inserts (but lots of parallels). This is one of Pacific's final baseball card sets as they would give up their license at the end of 2000.

Looking at the insert card, the High Voltage cards were inserted one per pack. However, to keep things interesting, Pacific made five different versions of each High Voltage card. The regular version (shown here) along with four parallels:

High Voltage Red (serial-numbered to 299)

High Voltage Gold (serial-numbered to 199)

High Voltage Green (serial-numbered to 99)

High Voltage Holographic Silver (serial-numbered to 10)

At the moment, I don't own any of the parallels but at least I have the regular insert card. It's a kind of cool (over-the-top) design. I wouldn't want a full set of cards looking like this, but for a small insert set I think it works well.

Sunday, June 25, 2017

Update: I mailed the final three group break packages on 6/22 so hopefully everyone either has their cards in hand by now (or you will within a day or so)!

First up, here's the video for the entire 2017 Topps Archives box break. Do note that I didn't realize that I had pulled a rare (1:110 packs) variation at the time of the video. You can find a closer scan of the card back in my blog archives if you'd like.

And that does it for the group break! I hope everyone had fun - and I hope everyone is happy with their hauls. I may do another break later in the summer...so if there is a product (or products) you would like to see me open, let me know via the comments below!

The Gray back variations are seeded 1:110 packs - making this a great hit for B-Man and the Dodgers! The easiest way to tell that this is a variation is the change in card stock (it is printed on the thinner "1992" stock). You can also tell by the code on the backside of the card (the variations end in 2799 while the regular base cards end in 2782).

That does it for those three packs. The big hit for this post was obviously the grey back variation. We still have one more autograph yet to be uncovered from our box - so stay tuned for that (and more)!

You'd be forgiven if you thought we pulled this card already...we didn't, at least not exactly. In the first box of Topps Archives we found a Tim Wallach peach parallel autograph. This time around, we get the "regular" version of his signature card. I won't lie, I was disappointed when we pulled this simply because it kind of stinks to get two autographs of the same (not great) player in a group break. I would have liked to see the hits spread around a bit more. Even so, I'm sure daddyohoho is happy with his Nationals team slot - Wallach does have a nice signature!

I learned from the back of Quinn's card that he played for Williamsport, PA in 2012. I probably saw him play live since Williamsport is the closest professional team to my house (they are a single A short season team).
161. Anthony Rizzo - Cubs
192. Ryne Sandberg - Cubs
212. Jacob DeGrom - Mets
228. Bob Lemon - Indians
254. George Brett - Royals

I am happy to report that the group break is almost over - and you should all be receiving your haul in the near future (if you haven't already since I am a bit ahead of schedule in terms of writing the posts)! Before we get to the first few packs out of the final 2017 Topps Archives box, I'd like to thank everyone for their support - and for following along with the break. As always, if I can ever do anything better, feel free to email me your suggestions.

Another nice card for Bru and the Astros! Houston cleaned up in the first three packs out of the box. Of course, we still have two hits remaining to be uncovered, plus plenty of other goodies. Stay tuned for more soon!

This is it! The end of the box of 2017 Topps Bunt. After I get through this post, there will be one more box to bust (our second box of Topps Archives) and then I get to start packing and mailing packages out. Hopefully by the time you read this post, I will have already started the packing/mailing process. We shall see.

Before I can get to that though, I need to show off the final six packs from the box of Topps Bunt. As always, we begin with the blue parallels.

The Braves waited a long, long time to land a blue parallel...but with the Freeman they got one just in time!

Two more Bunt code cards.

We ended up with 12 Bunt code cards in total (which is right on point since they are seeded 1:3 packs). As I said before, I won't be keeping any of these for myself, so out of the 13 slots that were claimed by someone other than me, 12 of the slots will end up with a Bunt code card.

Next, our final three Programs inserts.

The Braves and Yankees each ended up with two Programs inserts, no other team had more than one in the box.

We found three more Infinite cards as well.

The Nationals and Cubs each ended up with two cards from this set. No other team had more than one.

There were no Perspective cards this time around (they are seeded 1:4 packs and we already had found our expected nine in the box). We did, however, find one more gem:

That's a green Infinite parallel of Drew Pomeranz for the Red Sox (numbered 90/99)! The green parallels for the Infinite insert set are seeded 1:209 packs)! That's a really nice hit for the Red Sox (and thus for Doc) and a great way to end the box.